wheeler



(No Model.)

P. H. WHEELER.

PHOTOGRAPHIG PLATE HOLDER.

6 M m 00 N m 00 M M 1 W 7| n 2 u |w Ml Ow a mm F E m A F w j a W P WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT PARTS H. \VHEELER, OF \VASHINGTON, DISTRlC T OF QOLUBLHA.

PHOTOGRAPHlC-PLATE HOLDER.

I SPEQEPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 346,392, dated July 27,1886.

Applicaiion tiled Septemhcrli,1883. Serial No.l0'7,23l. (No model.)

To (oZZ whom, Ill; may concern.-

Be it known that I, PARIS H. WHEELER, a citizen of the l] nited States, residing at ashington, in the District of Columbia, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic-llate Holders, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has relation to photographicplate holders, and more particularly to that class used in the art of dry-plate photography; and the object of the invention is to provide a holder of this kind simple in construction, and capable of receiving from the largest to the smallest size of plate, and at the same time effectually to prevent the admission of light to the plate during the manipulation of the same; and to these ends the novelty c onsists in the construction of the same, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings similar letters of reference indicate the same parts of the invention.

A. is the top, B 13 the sides, 0 the bottom, and D the back, which form the frame-work of my improved holder.

The top A has a recess, A, to receive the rollerE,which is horizontally journaled therein to rotate freely.

F is a flexible slide, having a strip, G, which forms the handle. The slide F consists of a base, of rubber cloth or analogous impervious material, to which is secured a series of slats or strips of wood, which allow said slide a sufficient degree of flexibility in the line of its travel, while it is rigid in cross-section, and the slide is drawn open through the medium of the cloth backing, and when being closed the slats press against each other, so that the whole is pushed forward until closed. This slide F passes around the top of the roller E and down the face of the holder proper, its sides sliding in grooves e c in the sides B B. Similar grooves, (Z d, in the back of the sides B B, allow the slide F to be drawn down the back 1) when the slide is raised to expose the plate, which is done by pulling the handle G downward from behind, as shown in Fig. 2, which is the position of said slide when a plate is being inserted therein, or when said plate is being exposed in the camera.

H I are crossstrips, pivoted to the back D by the screw i, and the ends of these strips are provided with studs 7:, which work in the slots Z in the parallel pieces K K, so as to insure a uniform parallel motion of said pieces with reference to the center of the holder, whereby the sensitized plate will always be brovght into a central position. The ends of the parallel pieces K K have guides or n, which slide in grooves a in the side pieces, 13 The upper edge of the piece K and the lower edge of the piece K have a lip, on, which extends over the edge of the plate to securely hold it in position; and M is a llat spring secured in place by the screw 'i,which presses against the back of the plate and serves to retain it more securely in position. It will thus be seen that when the parallel pieces K K are opened wide the holder will take in the largest-size plate. Then by bringing them close together the smallestsize plate can be held, and as the said pieces K K can be adjusted any distance between the above limits, it follows that any size plate can be used, and this will be found a very great convenience, not only in using various-sized plates, but also in plates of approximately the same size, but which have not been out true to a standard size, asis frequently the case in packages of dry-plates of different makers, they generally varying in size, so that a rigid kit" would not fit the various makers plates.

It will of course be understood that this dc vice dispenses with all forms of kit or inside frame.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved holder with the slide raised to admit the sensitized plate, and Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same on the line 00 03 of Fi 1.

lVhen the slide is closed, the endof it, a, on ters the groove a in the bottom 0, while the sides slide in the grooves c c in the side pieces, B 13, and as the back of the holder is solid, it will be seen that the plate is absolutely protected from extraneous light; and, again,when the holder is in the camera and the slide raised, no outside light can possibly strike the plate, consequent upon the operation of the slide, as is frequently the case in the common form of holder, having a removable or detachable slide.

Having thus described my plate holder, what I claim is 1. In a plate-holder adapted tofautomatically center the sensitized plate, the combination,with a pair of parallel strips, of a pair of levers suitably connected to said strips, whereby a uniform parallel motion of the said stripsv is preserved, as and for the purpose set forth.

the cross-bars H I, havingstuds k k, 'and the parallel strips K K, having slot-s ll and lip m, as set forth.

4. The combination, with the cross-bars H 10 I, centrally pivoted by the screw 1', and provided with studs 70 k, of the parallel strips K K, having slots 1 and guides n, working in grooves n in the sides B B, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature 25 in presence of two witnesses.

PARIS H. WHEELER. Witnesses:

GEo. A. HARTMAN, WM. CUMMINGS. 

